Brothers In Fallout
by Paige M. Carter
Summary: Seth apologizes to Roman for WrestleMania. Part of 'What Brothers Are For' series. This won't make sense if you didn't see WrestleMania or heard what happened.
1. Apologize

Disclaimer: Not mine, don't sue. They belong to WWE.

Note: This my venting my frustration over what happened at WrestleMania during the Main Event. This is probably as angsty as I will ever let 'What Brothers Are For' get.

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Seth was nervous as he approached Dean and Roman's room, not sure how he'd be received. Yeah, Roman had known ahead of time that his big push was being postponed because of the backlash from Royal Rumble, and Seth was getting the belt earlier than planned, but still, Seth couldn't imagine that him showing up, with or without the belt, would be warmly received.

It still hurt that he'd been the one to take Roman's dream from him, at least for now. Hunter had promised in the meeting that Roman would get another shot, but they wanted him to work on his mic skills and expanding his moves a little more. Personally, Seth thought it was all crap and told Hunter so in private. Roman had all the tools, his problem was Vince and Creative's vision didn't fit Roman, no matter how hard he tried to squeeze himself into the mold.

What really bothered him was how this whole thing was done. Vince insisted that this be done AT WrestleMania, a swerve that would throw the fans. Seth hated the idea; if Roman wasn't ready, then don't push it to WrestleMania, let him lose to Daniel Bryan at FastLane and Seth could cash in, but Vince was determined to keep the sanctity of the Royal Rumble stipulation, and there were a lot of doubts about Bryan due to his neck, so Roman was stuck watching his months of hard work go up in smoke, on the biggest night of his career, in front of his entire family, because of something that wasn't his fault, and Seth was the one that had to light the match.

He knocked softly, hoping that Dean and Roman hadn't gone to bed yet.

Dean opened the door, looking tired and sore from his own match, "Seth? What're you doing here?"

Seth sighed, "I, uh, I came to see how Roman was doing."

Dean sighed and stepped out of the room, "Seth, I appreciate it, but I don't think it's a good idea for you to see him right now. I know that what happened wasn't your idea, but he's…really upset right now."

Seth looked at Dean hard, "Dean, you're not-Roman's not mistreating you, is he?" He didn't want to believe that Roman would ever raise a hand to Dean, but he also knew how such a bitter disappointment could change people.

Dean's eyes widened with shock, "No! Seth, how can you think that?! This is Roman we're talking about! The guy who can't stand to squash a spider, no matter how big and nasty it is."

Seth nodded, "I know, but we both know how shit like this can affect people."

Before Dean could say anything, the door opened and Roman's head popped out. "Dean? Who are you-?" He froze when he saw Seth.

Now, Seth could see why Dean had hesitated, Roman had taken his contacts out, but even with his glasses on, Seth could see that Roman had been crying.

"Seth," Roman said, leaning against the doorframe.

Seth gulped, "Hey, I just wanted to come by and…apologize for tonight. I tried to get Vince and Hunter to do something else but-"

Roman held up a hand, "I know, Paul told me about it. I know you tried to get Vince to at least let me get the win before you cashed in, but Vince wouldn't do it." He sighed, "Even knowing about it doesn't make it hurt any less. It just sucks all around and it's not your fault. You did what you were told."

Seth nodded, "Still, I'm so sorry, Roman. I know it won't fix things, but I am sorry."

Roman nodded, "I know, but it doesn't change the fact that I did everything Vince and Creative asked me to do and when it didn't work as quickly as they'd hoped, they threw me under the bus in front of the world and my family."

Seth felt sick at the bitterness in Roman's voice, wishing that he could say something to fix this.

Roman seemed to sense his thought because he patted him on the shoulder, "Don't beat yourself up for this, Seth. You didn't have a choice, and I'm not mad at you or blaming you for what happened, okay? You and me? We're good, okay?" He stepped back, pulled Dean's dozing form off the doorframe and went back inside, closing the door in Seth's face.

Seth sighed, feeling slightly better than he had before, but still knowing that he'd deeply hurt one of his best friends bothered him. Vince was sure that Roman would come out of this with more respect from the fans, Seth knew Roman and knew that Vince's pat on the head was not going to suffice. One day, Roman was going to explode on Vince, Hunter, and the fans for what happened tonight. As an employee, he should give them fair warning, but as a brother he wanted to sit back and watch them find out why you never want to piss off Roman Reigns or his brothers.

The End


	2. Won't Leave You Alone

Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize belongs to me, they belong to WWE. I'm not making any money from this, so don't sue.

Notes: I'd orginally intended for 'Brothers in Fallout' to be a one shot, but the muses wanted a story of what Dean and Roman were doing before Seth showed up.

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Roman stalked into his hotel room, he was sore, tired, hurt, angry, and humiliated. After months of damn near killing himself to improve his ring work and mic skills, not taking days off, being the first guy in and the last guy out, Vince and Creative had decided that it wasn't enough to justify him getting the belt after all, at least at this point. The greatest night of his life, other than the birth of his daughter, had been turned into a complete clusterfuck.

He'd read the comments that he had no right to be upset about what had happened, he got to main event WrestleMania and that he wasn't the first guy to get his push taken away. Fat lot of comfort that was, he'd busted his ass, done what Vince and Creative asked him to, even when it made him look ridiculous, and then they decided to yank the championship away from him at the last minute. Yeah, other guys may have lost their pushes in the past, but he was pretty sure none of them had had it happen at fucking WrestleMania in front of their families.

If there was any saving grace to this, it was that Seth hadn't wanted to do it. Seth had wanted to at least let Roman get the planned win before cashing in, but Vince wouldn't allow it. Roman wanted to be happy that at least one of them had a good night, but he was too tired and too angry.

He set down his things and was surprised to find Dean waiting for him on the bed. Even though they were technically sharing the room, Dean had spent most of the week with Renee.

Roman sighed, "Dean, I'm not really in the mood for company tonight."

"Too bad, because I'm not leaving you alone after what happened tonight," Dean replied, wincing as he got to his feet.

Now Roman felt bad, Dean had been through a grueling ladder match, should probably be in the hospital or snuggling with Renee, and he was here trying help him.

"Dean, I'll be fine. Go spend time with Renee. I know she missed you at Hall of Fame last night."

"I made it up to her last night and this morning," Dean said. "Plus, she knew that my attending wasn't a sure thing given how my autograph signing was scheduled. And, anyway, after what happened tonight, she knew I wouldn't want to leave you alone." He walked over to Roman and looked him in the eye, "Talk to me."

Roman snorted, "Talk to you about what, Dean? That I got screwed over on the biggest night of my career? That I busted my ass, nearly killed myself, working to improve like Vince wanted, and then got thrown under the bus because the fans weren't warming up as fast as he thought they should? That I went out there and gave the performance of my life and then had my moment stolen from me by one of my best friends, who begged Vince to at least go through with the planned finish before fucking me over? That I was made a fool of in front of my family? Is that what you want to talk about?"

Dean reached up and stroked Roman's face, "I don't think I need to."

Roman was startled to realize that his cheeks were wet and his eyes were burning. He stared at Dean and saw that that had been the plan all along, get him to vent and let out his anger and frustration before he exploded. "You little shit."

Dean smiled softly and wrapped his arms around Roman, backing them up to the bed and laying down, poking and prodding until they were situated with Dean laying on his back and Roman laying on top of him. "Let it out, Uce. It's okay."

Roman was not a crier, never had been, but somehow, he felt safe enough to cry like a child into his best friend's chest and know that Dean would never tell anyone. They laid there in silence until the knock on the door.

Even before Seth showed up, Roman was determined that what had happened would not affect their friendship. The decision hadn't been Seth's, he'd just been the triggerman, and Roman wasn't going to let backstage bullshit get between them. They were still brothers, no matter what Vince and WWE threw at them.

The End


End file.
